One of my favorite quotes for life difficulties can be used literally in your situation: “a calm sea never made a skilled sailor, so I thank the lord for the stormy weather.” Your fast thinking and action was amazing to see.
Can’t think of anything else to call it after all. Thanks for following our little adventure. And for leaving a post here too. Good to know we aren’t alone out here in that sense.
Indi will keep you safe, she is a tough old girl that will enjoy some pampering im Tahiti. Nice job with the steering cable. I think Colin on Parlay has replaced his cable with Dyneema. Take care, regards Steve.
No way! Thanks mate. Those guys rock. Was a run time chatting with them and catching up after the awards. Thanks for hoping on patreon. That makes a huge difference…but you already know that. 🍻
Oh my God, my helm on the L43 is very similar, lemme check right away! I dont think anything can stop you. I am just a follower but I am proud of you! ☺
Worth a peak. The damage was around the shive where the cables split off to each rudder stock. Our best guess is that the tension got too slack and the cable was able to fall out of the shive and snag on the side of the groove
Wow, that was insane! What a great job on both your parts! I'm an engineer and I love how you picked up on certain seemingly simple things like marking with a sharpie. It helps in so many ways to keep an eye on things (from root causal to verifying what one "thinks" that they have fixed). Wishing you two the best!
It was a pretty intense time for sure. We had a very surreal moment when we had a pretty frank conversation on the aft step as to just how we were going to dig our way out of this hole and it’s such a relief when,after trying a few things, we finally found a working solution.
I'd add to the idea about changing the whole steering cable to dynema. I built the steering system on my 40' cat and used dynema and it worked perfectly and of course it is very easy to carry a spare. The key thing is being able to access the turning blocks to be able to thread a new cable through. My current 35' cat-- has 6mm dynema line for steering-- we've just done 1000 miles down the east coast of Australia with no worries at all-- even close hauled in 40 knots. Phil
Cool! Yeah I think that’s the way we would like to go with it to be honest. Out of interest, did you use a sheathed dyneema or just the bare black hollow braid style? We can’t decide If it really needs the added chafe protection of the sheath.
@@RedSeas just used plain old dynema without any sheathing. It stretches a bit but this was never a problem. I take a lot of confidence that fishing boats in the North Sea have replaced all their steel ropes with dynema...
I would hope you look for a stronger attachment tech to keep your bow sprit attached as do not believe you though about the stress loads of sails and connection to cross beam and what that entailed. Hopeful you get to use it with a better method to attach the pole to beam.🙃😉😊😇
Indeed. Ideally we would find a welder for aluminium who could attach it but having spent time looking at new bow sprits on production cars, rivets appear to be the way forward. Somewhat sacrificial but I prefer that over damaging the cross beam. In our case the issue was the balance of the Bob stays to the halyard. We needed to ensure that these three forces are equal when the bowsprit was not in use or when raising the sail. With a bit more head scratching, I think we have got it worked out for the future but obviously it was a challenge to resolve on this longer passage.
OMG, we wish you good luck for the rest of your passage. We keep our fingers crossed that nothing else breaks and you arrive safely. You are doing so well.
So impressive! I mean seriously! Been in a situation where we were in a sudden microburst on Lake Huron, several hours of fighting the waves, being wallopped, and then losing our rudder... horrific, but we handled it, tucked into a safe place and waited for 2 days for a tow--- however feeling GOOD about the fact we handled it. You handled that and should be extremely proud- glad I found your channel :)
Proud / relieved. Think we will have fun keeping an eye on this solution every day for the rest of the passage. Good to know we aren’t the only ones who have experienced something like this. You know how it feels. Not much fun at the time but at least we are still pushing on. 😊
@@RedSeas Yes, makes for a great story now though! Prepares you for the next challenge, increases your trust and pride in one another and in your boat, while teaching others- and btw, you mean have been freaking out in the inside, but I didn't see any frickin' fetal positioning going on there!
😂 we were told very early on by someone who has the same kind of boat as Indioko, that we would give out way before the host ever will. While she has tested us, we know for sure that she will get us there. If Kon tiki can do it…so can we!
Wow, you guys are really being put through the mill. Hang on in there - only a few degrees to go. And hey, you've got some epic content out of it! (only kidding, I really do understand I think how scary this must have been)! With you every nautical mile.
Cheers. Yeah, it’s been a rough ride at times but this was probably the closest to game over we have come. Couldn’t imagine having to abandon ship for the sake of a cable (and we know another boat that did!). Here’s hoping it’s a smooth ride to the finish line from here on. We’re still smiling of course! 😃
Great job handling a bad situation there Iain and Brioni. Who knew the manual steering oar thingy was so strenuous to use? Not I. I don't know if its the same mechanism, but I thought i saw people using some kind of steering rudder during racing regattas. Granted they always had a chair right there as well to make the experience less difficult overall. Never would I have expected so many things to go wrong on 1 journey. You two really are testing your mettle on this voyage. I sincerely hope that the rest of the journey is less exciting as the past two weeks and that the excitement being shared is a new country being visited for the first time. Oh and on another note, I hope you two are prepared to float the anchor chain, if not, make those preparations as some places out there don't allow you to drop anchor unless you are going to float that chain and not damage their pristine coral reefs. Love all the content you two provide. Keep those spirits high and the winds at your back.
You’re totally right, tiller steering is a really common method of controlling a lot of sailing boats. There are only a few manufacturers who offer it on larger catamarans and this is usually designed with some mechanical assistance. Our system however, is only an emergency solution so it’s not really designed for long term convenience. The tiller (metal bar) goes directly into the top of the rudder (a 1:1 ratio) and then, rather than controlling a single rudder, the rudders on indioko are joined together with a really big metal bar. So are you turn one rudder, you are effectively turning both. It’s surprising how hard it was to do for so long but I’m definitely going to sit down and come up with a better rigging solution should this happen again. Land is getting so close now, we are pretty excited as you can imagine. Challenges on this passage were expected but I think the challenges we have seen were much bigger than we would have hoped for.
well the chain drags along the bottom to an extent, floating it just really minimalizes the area of chain touching the bottom and therefore in some areas damaging reefs@@cameronag12 . efficacy of anchor is not diminished, just angle slightly changed
This is the second sailing channel I've seen where the steering cable has broken. Quick thinking and great capabilities to handle the emergency - teamwork! "land-ho" is probably going to be an even extra emotional release. Hope for a calm and quick completion of your crossing! Donate for a Dream
Hopefully our little story here helps prepare the next person who has this happen too. It was a pretty tough night to say the least. Land is only a few hundred miles to go. Going to be wild
Will you carry extra cable and fittings ? I think so ! You handled the situation very well ! I know your short on space but think what could go wrong and it may t5hen think what threatens your life if it goes bad then carry extra parts for that ! You cant carry a new mast but you could carry extra fuel and good working engines !
Well yes, we carry as many spares as we can fit and afford to. In most cases our spare parts have to fit multiple applications. Eg. Spare dyneema will act as a bolt rope for a sail, a replacement shroud or stay for the mast and, as you have now seen, a replacement steering cable 😆 the irony of it all is we carried 110gallons of extra diesel in this blue barrels and with our engine failure, we will probably arrive with most of it still in those barrels on the back 😂
Holy cow what an adventure. We are on your exact sister ship a 2004, leopard 47 and I love following you guys because you show me how to fix my boat. 😉. After watching this episode, I just figured out where my steering cables run!! we just crossed the Pacific this season as well, and are currently in Fiji. I don’t know if it’s something with these boats, but we ripped our spinnaker on the crossing, and just ripped our main sail in half as we were coming into Fiji. I love your content and if you ever see us in an Anchorage, come say hi and we can swap war stories about our leopard 47’s 😂 we are SV Best Life.
No way! That’s so cool. I wonder how many times we have crossed wakes before? Sorry to hear about the mainsail. That’s got to hurt. We have been mourning the loss of the kraken but a main would be so sad. I wonder if we will ever catch up with you guys. If so, we should absolutely grab a drink and show off some scars. 😂 Thanks for following our little adventure and hopefully we can be helpful in stepping on the land mines before you do.
We were chatting with Colin about it actually. Think it will work out. Once we get somewhere that we can replace the system properly, all should be fine. Just needs to get us there for now
,,,,,after viewing this episode,,,, the number in line for comments is not important,,,, Bri is the hero of the evening, Ian, you made the right decision to handle the manual tiller,,,, you two deserve a few days of calm seas to recover,,,, your determination is impressive,,,, stay safe,,,,
Really appreciate that. I know how much first comment means to you. It was a really tough night and hopefully we will make it in one (or several pieces) now. 😊
@@RedSeas I had a rudder snap of the pindles in 40 Knots in a 30 ft yacht on a lee shore on a delivery - Fun & games , She handled it well , On another delivery of a new Bene 50 same thing & the bloody emergency tiller didnt even fit - More fun & games . Its those times that make the good times better .
It might sound crazy but actually having a bit of main up with the Genoa will balance the boat and it will travel in a roughly straight line without having to steer. On my leopard we were beating up wind in 30 knots at night (why always at night) my steering chain snapped. The boat carried on in a straight line while I took out the dremel and shortened the chain and put it all together and we then could steer again. Took about 1 hr to solve. I fitted a new chain a few months later so if your cable has snapped I would change this as well as the chain as that will snap next. It is one of the shortfalls how leopard fit the autopilots to the wheel system so any problem causes a failure. On my new to me now cat a Catana 47 the autopilot is a hydraulic ram that works on the rudder shaft direct so if anything else breaks you can still run under autopilot. But friends of mine have fitted a second ram to the second rudder to make even more sure they can always steer. Glad you made it through you next challenge on the list of long passage making 😉😊
Good call on the chain. We will have to add it to the list. And a ram autopilot has always been on the wish list but we just don’t have the budget for it these days. Would have made things sooo much easier tho. Friends of ours on another channel had a steering lost and just enabled the autopilot while the fixed it. Made it something of a non-event. I wish we could have said the same. With regards to the main, your totally right but we were so deep downwind that it would have shadowed the Genoa unfortunately but otherwise, you’re right, it’s great how balanced the leopard 47 is. Bet you love the catana. It’s a fun looking boat.
Unfortunately it is a drive unit rather than a ram one. So it connects to the steering wheel of the helm and relies on the same steering cables. Wish we had a ram system tho. That would make things so much easier.
That’s an interesting question. It’s totally possible to use a drogue as a temporary steering solution but it would knock the boat speed down to a crawl. In the conditions we had, I think we would have caused even more waves to flood the cockpit unfortunately (that said, if the current was behind us then the drogue may well have ended up pulling us along rather than slowing us down 🤔).
Rig a sea drogue.... You can also use them to steer a general direction Check your drains are clear and batten down your hatches as they used to say.. Reduce sail and lash things down early .. 👍🏼🇬🇧🧙♂️ Autopilots draw a lot of power and can overheat/fail if it has to work too hard .. You did good with your emergency repairs.. A piece of plastic hose split can act as an anti chafe collar on a dynema rope passing through a bulk head or above a moulded edge.
have dynema and also spare dynema , you need to think of all the possible failures and have redundancy and back up systems. see if you could isolate one wheel and use only 1 rudder etc.
Absolutely. We have backups to the backups. Unfortunately we are so far into this passage that we are starting to use up the backups to the backups lol. Good news is, as you may have seen, we had the spare dyneema to fix the issue. The bad news is, we only have one wheel 😂
@@RedSeas baptism of fire, you don’t do anything in halves. I hope Indie will get some love after this sail. She will need a lot of love and new stuff (and spairs). All that said, you did it, and we are proud of our two read heads… 👍🏼
I hope you plan on staying in a marina for a few days to get some parts. I hope you ordered them while you where out at sea so you wouldn't have ti wait as long
Funny enough, we worked out that in 3 years of sailing, we have only spent 24 hours in a marina. And that was only to use their shore power for a welder to mount the dinghy davits! Parts are going to be pretty hard to come by in the marquesas but we will have to see what we can find when we get there I think. The land before internet
Good job improvising on your steering cable! We replaced our cable with Dyneema before we left the States 6 years ago and it has been perfect. Just check each sheeve and make sure there aren't any burrs. We carry a spare of Dyneema and some chain for the steering and autopilot. We also carry a 20m section of 13mm Dyneema as an emergency rigging stay. You guys will be busy in Tahiti!
Yeah, that’s kind of what we are thinking to do when we get there. Replace both steering cables with dyneema and see how that works out. Also planning some additional protection where the lines run inside to avoid chafe. Going to be on the hunt for an aluminium welder there too. Should be an interesting time for sure.
Just discovered your channel and adventures! I am loving your videos because you are like me! I have a dream to sail a cat across the pacific but I am not an experienced sailor! So you are working out it all out as you go along - learning by doing!! Like how to raise the halyard on a genneker only after securing the furling line. I didn’t know that either! Well done for keeping going! Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm!! You are doing brilliantly from the few films I have watched! I am bingeing the films backwards! How back in time are the films? Did you make it across the pacific or are you uploading with Starlink?! Take care. Stay safe. Rob x
Well done for working out how to rig the steering with the dynema. You are making me realise just how many spares are needed for a big ocean crossing, especially on an older cat. So good you had those U clips for the broken steel steering line!! You did so well to cope with it all.
Thanks so much for watching. We absolutely love it when we get comments like this as we love to get to know who is out there and know that they are out here with us in a way. We are doing a live stream next week and can answer some of your questions if you have any too. Check out our Facebook or Instagram for details 😜
Cheers, one of our strategies is to make sure that most things on the body have more than one purpose. Saves on weight generally. So the dyneema comes from the Gennaker nessy and the u bolts where actually part of the rudder stock attachment that we repurposed.
Great plan. We would love to do that too. Just need to find one inside the budget. But at least now we might bump it up the priority list having been through this.
@@RedSeas There are three other Leopards here doing it. One guy had the cable go and his suffering scared us so much we all bumped it up the list. xD If you have a Raymarine type two system already the ram and motor are all you need other than the brackets I think.
Exactly our plan. We actually have our new to us “stingray” spx30 running the type 2 at the helm and we still have the original x3 that we thought we might install separately so we have a complete redundancy system available but the ram is a little outside our budget…especially with all the repairs we are looking at following this passage. 😞
Sorry not surprised. I did warn about boat rediness, el nino wind extemes. I just got flack from other veiwers. Great performance under circumstances, Try catching caneos or rowboats aviod helicopters.
Funny thing is, the steering system was checked over before we set off. This was a pretty unlucky one as the cable must have caught on the shove after almost 4000 miles of turning back and forth in the bigger seas. Still, pleased we had some dyneema to hand. 😊
I think you may have taken some unnecessary risks. Why not set the rudder full port, or starboard and heave to. That way you could work on the problems together without risk of steering on the sugar scoop or in the engine room when the engine is running.
Fare opinion. Unfortunately our cat is far more stable on a close reach than trying to keep it hove to. It’s actually pretty hard to keep it happy in a heave to unlike the monos I’ve sailed. Unfortunately, given the very high waves and following current, we didn’t deem it safe to go broadside to them either as this would have likely thrown us both around onboard and heightened the potential for injury. Please be assured that we have no interest in taking unnecessary risks and leaving the vessel without someone on the helm felt like a more dangerous course of action given the conditions we faced.
@@RedSeas Fair enough. Just concerned. I am obviously unfamiliar with your Leopard’s performance when hove to. A drogue chute or hove to are the two storm tactics that I always think of first.
Ooo is this the start of a series? Can’t wait to make up a scroll of red seas laws. 😂. It’s true tho. Team work all the way. Couldn’t do it any other way.
"checking the steering cable" shouldn't you have been doing that before the cables broke, had to be rubbing or binding chaffing way before they broke....
Strangely we had checked everything over before setting off and we were able to see sections of it thru the boat but it is not really designed to be regularly checked on. We are lucky on Indioko that we can access large sections of it for inspection. On other boats it is literally under the boat and inaccessible while underway.
My life is so boring and now I know why. Cause you two are steeling all the thunder from the rest of us! Don't' want this to turn into a lecture, just saying:-) Just teasing, wish you two safe-er-ish travels! I'll have to assume that by simply posting these you are moving forward (well, at least moving)!
🤣 🤣 perhaps it’s some consolation that you are on the adventure with us. You get to enjoy the highs and the lows while also knowing there is a comfortable bed and cold brew within reaching distance I suppose. Really enjoyed reading this post. Thanks for taking the time to watch and leave this post too
@@RedSeas Wait, what? There's also cold brew as well??? Oh SNAP! When you two are willing to take on additional kids, I mean crew, I want you to get back to me. I mean right back to me! :-) I have three kiddos (whom I absolutely love and support). As soon as I know that they are through college and on their own two feet, I'm really thinking I'd love to sail. Who knows where. But regardless, these videos sure hope inform me. Or well, at least give me some pretty fun nightmares!!! LOL!
Haha additional crew might be worth a thought given how this passage has been. We have been lucky enough to support a bunch of our patrons in setting out on their own adventure. It’s so cool to see them set up and set off. As my mum always says “what is for you won’t pass you by”
That so called emergency steering is totally useless the handle should be the other way round. Being on the sugar scoop in that sort of weather is a disgrace. It is not long enough the wrong way round no mechanical advantage. Who ever came up with that design should have to steer the boat in 40 knots of wind. Wonder if it would change. This is the second time I have seen this, cannot mind the sailing channel. You need to be a strong man to use it a woman sorry before anyone says anything the truth, she fixed it say the other half cannot do that screwed. By the way you did really good hen. Sorry for the rant but steering is important. Life or death.
It’s these sorts of designs that remind us that Indioko was designed for week long vacation charters. That said, she is miles better than some of the newer charter boats out there. Wouldn’t want to have had this happen on any other boat. At least we knew exactly where to go to find the problem and had ideas of how to fix it. 😊
To have that much algae on your sugar scoops that you need a lawn mower to trim it really shows major neglect to your boat. To see that massive amount only tells me and your viewers that you do not maintain your boat properly, and this is why your stuff is breaking. Lack of attention and maintenance. Pure laziness. One day its going to be something you wont be able to recover from.
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I think you may have overlooked the fact that this episode takes place after those back steps have been submerged for a little over 2 weeks on a trans-pacific crossing. The amount of time we spent cleaning the wetted surfaces during the passage compared to at anchor and daily sails is dramatically different. Indeed, the last 3 years have seen us take Indioko from a shell of a boat (ex chartered and heavily damaged) to where she is today and we continue to repair, upgrade and renovate her. Perhaps take a moment to look thru some of our other episodes showing the extensive repairs we have done and consider the scenario we were in at the point our steering failed before making such sweeping statements. But equally, you are totally entitled to hold whatever opinion you like. Cheers.
![THIS CAN’T BE REAL! | Land after 40 days of NON-STOP SAILING! [Ep91 RED SEAS]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Yda3TxVNsL4/mqdefault.jpg)
![THIS CAN’T BE REAL! | Land after 40 days of NON-STOP SAILING! [Ep91 RED SEAS]](/img/tr.png)
One of my favorite quotes for life difficulties can be used literally in your situation: “a calm sea never made a skilled sailor, so I thank the lord for the stormy weather.” Your fast thinking and action was amazing to see.
Well, it felt like time slowed down that’s for sure. Hopefully we are good enough for now 😜
LOL! "Percussive Maintenance." 🤣😂🤣
Your resilience never ceases to amaze me!
Can’t think of anything else to call it after all. Thanks for following our little adventure. And for leaving a post here too. Good to know we aren’t alone out here in that sense.
You handled they really well! The rope was a great solution!
Thanks. It was a pretty tough night.
Great job both of you
hat is raised
keep them coming
Thanks. It was a hair raising night for sure. Thanks for following and commenting. Really appreciate it
Already imagining your faces once you see land again. You guys have definitely earned a break. Well done guys 👌
It’s soooo close. We just have to push on a few more degrees. Can’t wait! 😊
And yet you soldier on...BRAVO!!!
By the skin of our teeth. As always.
Love to see the teamwork!
It was team work that saves the day for sure.
Indi will keep you safe, she is a tough old girl that will enjoy some pampering im Tahiti.
Nice job with the steering cable. I think Colin on Parlay has replaced his cable with Dyneema.
Take care, regards Steve.
She sure will. Tough as nails. Yeah, I believe Colin swapped out for dyneema back in Panama
What an awesome episode!, just found you guys (listened to the podcast with Spear It) signed up Patreon too😊
No way! Thanks mate. Those guys rock. Was a run time chatting with them and catching up after the awards. Thanks for hoping on patreon. That makes a huge difference…but you already know that. 🍻
Oh my God, my helm on the L43 is very similar, lemme check right away! I dont think anything can stop you. I am just a follower but I am proud of you! ☺
Worth a peak. The damage was around the shive where the cables split off to each rudder stock. Our best guess is that the tension got too slack and the cable was able to fall out of the shive and snag on the side of the groove
You both have done a great job on improvise to get the steering working. Very proud of both of you.
Ah thanks man! It was a bit of a desperate situation but hopefully it all holds together. Thanks for watching and commenting
what a hell of a passage. you guys are proper sailors now.
We have certainly had enough practice at this stage 😂 only a few hundred miles to go so here is hoping everything comes together for the final push.
Wow! Nice save! Great video! Love how you name everything 😂 Landfall will never be so sweet!
Haha it could be that we want to have a friendly way to keep everything on side…or it could be that we keep forgetting the real name for things. 😂
@@RedSeas 🤣🤣
Wow, that was insane! What a great job on both your parts! I'm an engineer and I love how you picked up on certain seemingly simple things like marking with a sharpie. It helps in so many ways to keep an eye on things (from root causal to verifying what one "thinks" that they have fixed). Wishing you two the best!
It was a pretty intense time for sure. We had a very surreal moment when we had a pretty frank conversation on the aft step as to just how we were going to dig our way out of this hole and it’s such a relief when,after trying a few things, we finally found a working solution.
Just Subscribed! Excited to Continue following along.
Awesome! Thank you! Hope you get a chance to look back thru our adventure too. There has been so much of it
I'd add to the idea about changing the whole steering cable to dynema. I built the steering system on my 40' cat and used dynema and it worked perfectly and of course it is very easy to carry a spare. The key thing is being able to access the turning blocks to be able to thread a new cable through. My current 35' cat-- has 6mm dynema line for steering-- we've just done 1000 miles down the east coast of Australia with no worries at all-- even close hauled in 40 knots. Phil
Cool! Yeah I think that’s the way we would like to go with it to be honest. Out of interest, did you use a sheathed dyneema or just the bare black hollow braid style? We can’t decide
If it really needs the added chafe protection of the sheath.
@@RedSeas just used plain old dynema without any sheathing. It stretches a bit but this was never a problem. I take a lot of confidence that fishing boats in the North Sea have replaced all their steel ropes with dynema...
Cool! Thanks for the info. Guess it goes on the shopping list
Glad you guys are ok!! Awesome on the fly fix!!! 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 well done!!
Cheers! We are pretty relieved it has been working out for us too. Wasn’t the highlight of the passage that’s for sure 😆
I would hope you look for a stronger attachment tech to keep your bow sprit attached as do not believe you though about the stress loads of sails and connection to cross beam and what that entailed. Hopeful you get to use it with a better method to attach the pole to beam.🙃😉😊😇
Indeed. Ideally we would find a welder for aluminium who could attach it but having spent time looking at new bow sprits on production cars, rivets appear to be the way forward. Somewhat sacrificial but I prefer that over damaging the cross beam. In our case the issue was the balance of the Bob stays to the halyard. We needed to ensure that these three forces are equal when the bowsprit was not in use or when raising the sail. With a bit more head scratching, I think we have got it worked out for the future but obviously it was a challenge to resolve on this longer passage.
OMG, we wish you good luck for the rest of your passage. We keep our fingers crossed that nothing else breaks and you arrive safely. You are doing so well.
Thanks guys. We are hanging in there and hey! All of this makes for a good story to tell some day I guess. 😊 only a few hundred miles to go
So impressive! I mean seriously! Been in a situation where we were in a sudden microburst on Lake Huron, several hours of fighting the waves, being wallopped, and then losing our rudder... horrific, but we handled it, tucked into a safe place and waited for 2 days for a tow--- however feeling GOOD about the fact we handled it. You handled that and should be extremely proud- glad I found your channel :)
Proud / relieved. Think we will have fun keeping an eye on this solution every day for the rest of the passage. Good to know we aren’t the only ones who have experienced something like this. You know how it feels. Not much fun at the time but at least we are still pushing on. 😊
@@RedSeas Yes, makes for a great story now though! Prepares you for the next challenge, increases your trust and pride in one another and in your boat, while teaching others- and btw, you mean have been freaking out in the inside, but I didn't see any frickin' fetal positioning going on there!
😂 we were told very early on by someone who has the same kind of boat as Indioko, that we would give out way before the host ever will. While she has tested us, we know for sure that she will get us there. If Kon tiki can do it…so can we!
Wow, you guys are really being put through the mill. Hang on in there - only a few degrees to go. And hey, you've got some epic content out of it! (only kidding, I really do understand I think how scary this must have been)! With you every nautical mile.
Cheers. Yeah, it’s been a rough ride at times but this was probably the closest to game over we have come. Couldn’t imagine having to abandon ship for the sake of a cable (and we know another boat that did!). Here’s hoping it’s a smooth ride to the finish line from here on. We’re still smiling of course! 😃
Great job handling a bad situation there Iain and Brioni.
Who knew the manual steering oar thingy was so strenuous to use? Not I. I don't know if its the same mechanism, but I thought i saw people using some kind of steering rudder during racing regattas. Granted they always had a chair right there as well to make the experience less difficult overall.
Never would I have expected so many things to go wrong on 1 journey.
You two really are testing your mettle on this voyage.
I sincerely hope that the rest of the journey is less exciting as the past two weeks and that the excitement being shared is a new country being visited for the first time.
Oh and on another note, I hope you two are prepared to float the anchor chain, if not, make those preparations as some places out there don't allow you to drop anchor unless you are going to float that chain and not damage their pristine coral reefs.
Love all the content you two provide. Keep those spirits high and the winds at your back.
You’re totally right, tiller steering is a really common method of controlling a lot of sailing boats. There are only a few manufacturers who offer it on larger catamarans and this is usually designed with some mechanical assistance. Our system however, is only an emergency solution so it’s not really designed for long term convenience. The tiller (metal bar) goes directly into the top of the rudder (a 1:1 ratio) and then, rather than controlling a single rudder, the rudders on indioko are joined together with a really big metal bar. So are you turn one rudder, you are effectively turning both. It’s surprising how hard it was to do for so long but I’m definitely going to sit down and come up with a better rigging solution should this happen again.
Land is getting so close now, we are pretty excited as you can imagine. Challenges on this passage were expected but I think the challenges we have seen were much bigger than we would have hoped for.
Floating your anchor chain?!? That's weird - it's the chain that makes the anchor work. I think if I was asked to do that I'd move somewhere else.
well the chain drags along the bottom to an extent, floating it just really minimalizes the area of chain touching the bottom and therefore in some areas damaging reefs@@cameronag12 . efficacy of anchor is not diminished, just angle slightly changed
This is the second sailing channel I've seen where the steering cable has broken. Quick thinking and great capabilities to handle the emergency - teamwork! "land-ho" is probably going to be an even extra emotional release. Hope for a calm and quick completion of your crossing!
Donate for a Dream
Hopefully our little story here helps prepare the next person who has this happen too. It was a pretty tough night to say the least. Land is only a few hundred miles to go. Going to be wild
Will you carry extra cable and fittings ? I think so ! You handled the situation very well ! I know your short on space but think what could go wrong and it may t5hen think what threatens your life if it goes bad then carry extra parts for that ! You cant carry a new mast but you could carry extra fuel and good working engines !
Well yes, we carry as many spares as we can fit and afford to. In most cases our spare parts have to fit multiple applications. Eg. Spare dyneema will act as a bolt rope for a sail, a replacement shroud or stay for the mast and, as you have now seen, a replacement steering cable 😆 the irony of it all is we carried 110gallons of extra diesel in this blue barrels and with our engine failure, we will probably arrive with most of it still in those barrels on the back 😂
How incredibly terrifying 😟 outstanding job working through a solution 🙏
Not much fun…you’ve been there tho I thing? You know how it goes. Terror, stress. Planning. Solution. Sleep a litle
Many safety’s blessings to you all.
Thank you so much. 🙏🏼
Wow what luck and that f n great job both of you
Thanks. Pretty stressful but happy we worked something out. Thanks for watching and posting here too
Yikes. Well done. You can handle anything at this point.
Cheers! It was touch and go for sure. Still, we live and learn. Long may indi continue to show us how tough she really is.
Holy cow what an adventure. We are on your exact sister ship a 2004, leopard 47 and I love following you guys because you show me how to fix my boat. 😉. After watching this episode, I just figured out where my steering cables run!! we just crossed the Pacific this season as well, and are currently in Fiji. I don’t know if it’s something with these boats, but we ripped our spinnaker on the crossing, and just ripped our main sail in half as we were coming into Fiji. I love your content and if you ever see us in an Anchorage, come say hi and we can swap war stories about our leopard 47’s 😂 we are SV Best Life.
No way! That’s so cool. I wonder how many times we have crossed wakes before? Sorry to hear about the mainsail. That’s got to hurt. We have been mourning the loss of the kraken but a main would be so sad. I wonder if we will ever catch up with you guys. If so, we should absolutely grab a drink and show off some scars. 😂
Thanks for following our little adventure and hopefully we can be helpful in stepping on the land mines before you do.
I remember watching sailing parlay who changed their cables to dyneema and have not had issues for almost a year.sure you will be okay with that setup
We were chatting with Colin about it actually. Think it will work out. Once we get somewhere that we can replace the system properly, all should be fine. Just needs to get us there for now
,,,,,after viewing this episode,,,, the number in line for comments is not important,,,, Bri is the hero of the evening, Ian, you made the right decision to handle the manual tiller,,,, you two deserve a few days of calm seas to recover,,,, your determination is impressive,,,, stay safe,,,,
Really appreciate that. I know how much first comment means to you. It was a really tough night and hopefully we will make it in one (or several pieces) now. 😊
WHAT A CREW YOU ALL REALLY PROFORM SUPER WELL !
VERY IMPRESSIVE !
Thank you! It’s amazing the clarity of thought you get when you’re both facing a potential game over.
Narly! glad you came out OK!
Cheers. So are we 😂
Well done girl
Bri or Indi? 😆
@@RedSeas I had a rudder snap of the pindles in 40 Knots in a 30 ft yacht on a lee shore on a delivery - Fun & games , She handled it well , On another delivery of a new Bene 50 same thing & the bloody emergency tiller didnt even fit - More fun & games . Its those times that make the good times better .
And the story at the bar EVEN BETTER!
It might sound crazy but actually having a bit of main up with the Genoa will balance the boat and it will travel in a roughly straight line without having to steer. On my leopard we were beating up wind in 30 knots at night (why always at night) my steering chain snapped. The boat carried on in a straight line while I took out the dremel and shortened the chain and put it all together and we then could steer again. Took about 1 hr to solve. I fitted a new chain a few months later so if your cable has snapped I would change this as well as the chain as that will snap next. It is one of the shortfalls how leopard fit the autopilots to the wheel system so any problem causes a failure.
On my new to me now cat a Catana 47 the autopilot is a hydraulic ram that works on the rudder shaft direct so if anything else breaks you can still run under autopilot. But friends of mine have fitted a second ram to the second rudder to make even more sure they can always steer.
Glad you made it through you next challenge on the list of long passage making 😉😊
Good call on the chain. We will have to add it to the list. And a ram autopilot has always been on the wish list but we just don’t have the budget for it these days. Would have made things sooo much easier tho. Friends of ours on another channel had a steering lost and just enabled the autopilot while the fixed it. Made it something of a non-event. I wish we could have said the same.
With regards to the main, your totally right but we were so deep downwind that it would have shadowed the Genoa unfortunately but otherwise, you’re right, it’s great how balanced the leopard 47 is. Bet you love the catana. It’s a fun looking boat.
You are really putting Indie to the test, on this sail.
Tell me about it
Doesn’t your autopilot connect directly to the steering tiller arm which means it would work even when the cable is broken?
Unfortunately it is a drive unit rather than a ram one. So it connects to the steering wheel of the helm and relies on the same steering cables. Wish we had a ram system tho. That would make things so much easier.
On a serious note, would deploying a sea anchor have helped?
That’s an interesting question. It’s totally possible to use a drogue as a temporary steering solution but it would knock the boat speed down to a crawl. In the conditions we had, I think we would have caused even more waves to flood the cockpit unfortunately (that said, if the current was behind us then the drogue may well have ended up pulling us along rather than slowing us down 🤔).
Rig a sea drogue....
You can also use them to steer a general direction
Check your drains are clear and batten down your hatches as they used to say..
Reduce sail and lash things down early .. 👍🏼🇬🇧🧙♂️
Autopilots draw a lot of power and can overheat/fail if it has to work too hard ..
You did good with your emergency repairs..
A piece of plastic hose split can act as an anti chafe collar on a dynema rope passing through a bulk head or above a moulded edge.
All really good advice for sure.
have dynema and also spare dynema , you need to think of all the possible failures and have redundancy and back up systems. see if you could isolate one wheel and use only 1 rudder etc.
Absolutely. We have backups to the backups. Unfortunately we are so far into this passage that we are starting to use up the backups to the backups lol. Good news is, as you may have seen, we had the spare dyneema to fix the issue. The bad news is, we only have one wheel 😂
You guys have really gone through the wars with that journey
Learning so much tho. No one call call us inexperienced after this.
@@RedSeas baptism of fire, you don’t do anything in halves. I hope Indie will get some love after this sail. She will need a lot of love and new stuff (and spairs). All that said, you did it, and we are proud of our two read heads… 👍🏼
Awesome job !!!
Thank you! Hopefully it holds up a little while longer
I hope you plan on staying in a marina for a few days to get some parts. I hope you ordered them while you where out at sea so you wouldn't have ti wait as long
Funny enough, we worked out that in 3 years of sailing, we have only spent 24 hours in a marina. And that was only to use their shore power for a welder to mount the dinghy davits! Parts are going to be pretty hard to come by in the marquesas but we will have to see what we can find when we get there I think. The land before internet
Wow! I nearly said holy shit.... what next. I was joking about sewing kraaken and you progressed to pan _ pan..strongs you two
I’ll see your kraken and raise you a near complete loss of the boat 😂 😱
😬🤣
Good job improvising on your steering cable! We replaced our cable with Dyneema before we left the States 6 years ago and it has been perfect. Just check each sheeve and make sure there aren't any burrs. We carry a spare of Dyneema and some chain for the steering and autopilot. We also carry a 20m section of 13mm Dyneema as an emergency rigging stay. You guys will be busy in Tahiti!
Yeah, that’s kind of what we are thinking to do when we get there. Replace both steering cables with dyneema and see how that works out. Also planning some additional protection where the lines run inside to avoid chafe. Going to be on the hunt for an aluminium welder there too. Should be an interesting time for sure.
Just discovered your channel and adventures! I am loving your videos because you are like me! I have a dream to sail a cat across the pacific but I am not an experienced sailor! So you are working out it all out as you go along - learning by doing!! Like how to raise the halyard on a genneker only after securing the furling line. I didn’t know that either! Well done for keeping going! Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm!! You are doing brilliantly from the few films I have watched! I am bingeing the films backwards! How back in time are the films? Did you make it across the pacific or are you uploading with Starlink?! Take care. Stay safe. Rob x
Well done for working out how to rig the steering with the dynema. You are making me realise just how many spares are needed for a big ocean crossing, especially on an older cat. So good you had those U clips for the broken steel steering line!! You did so well to cope with it all.
Thanks so much for watching. We absolutely love it when we get comments like this as we love to get to know who is out there and know that they are out here with us in a way. We are doing a live stream next week and can answer some of your questions if you have any too. Check out our Facebook or Instagram for details 😜
Cheers, one of our strategies is to make sure that most things on the body have more than one purpose. Saves on weight generally. So the dyneema comes from the Gennaker nessy and the u bolts where actually part of the rudder stock attachment that we repurposed.
Wow hope your ok
It’s a tough episode to watch, even for us
I'm installing a second autopilot to the rudder stock for this exact reason.
Great plan. We would love to do that too. Just need to find one inside the budget. But at least now we might bump it up the priority list having been through this.
@@RedSeas There are three other Leopards here doing it. One guy had the cable go and his suffering scared us so much we all bumped it up the list. xD If you have a Raymarine type two system already the ram and motor are all you need other than the brackets I think.
Exactly our plan. We actually have our new to us “stingray” spx30 running the type 2 at the helm and we still have the original x3 that we thought we might install separately so we have a complete redundancy system available but the ram is a little outside our budget…especially with all the repairs we are looking at following this passage. 😞
wow ,true sailors .
It’s some initiation that’s for sure! 😂
Dang it guys, thats some scary shit.
I guess spare steering cable is going to be on the spares list.
It’s a strange one for sure. Perhaps more dyneema would be lighter and more versatile. Just hope it holds out.
Iain is a superman. ❤…. 3hrs fighting against the waves with a manual tiler….. not easy for the strongest of men
It was a killer and totally exhausting but thankfully it all worked out. Just had to find a way to catch up on sleep
Sorry not surprised. I did warn about boat rediness, el nino wind extemes. I just got flack from other veiwers. Great performance under circumstances, Try catching caneos or rowboats aviod helicopters.
Funny thing is, the steering system was checked over before we set off. This was a pretty unlucky one as the cable must have caught on the shove after almost 4000 miles of turning back and forth in the bigger seas. Still, pleased we had some dyneema to hand. 😊
I think you may have taken some unnecessary risks. Why not set the rudder full port, or starboard and heave to. That way you could work on the problems together without risk of steering on the sugar scoop or in the engine room when the engine is running.
Fare opinion. Unfortunately our cat is far more stable on a close reach than trying to keep it hove to. It’s actually pretty hard to keep it happy in a heave to unlike the monos I’ve sailed.
Unfortunately, given the very high waves and following current, we didn’t deem it safe to go broadside to them either as this would have likely thrown us both around onboard and heightened the potential for injury.
Please be assured that we have no interest in taking unnecessary risks and leaving the vessel without someone on the helm felt like a more dangerous course of action given the conditions we faced.
@@RedSeas Fair enough. Just concerned. I am obviously unfamiliar with your Leopard’s performance when hove to. A drogue chute or hove to are the two storm tactics that I always think of first.
Red Sea Law #1: We always make it through, together.
Ooo is this the start of a series? Can’t wait to make up a scroll of red seas laws. 😂. It’s true tho. Team work all the way. Couldn’t do it any other way.
@@RedSeas Red Sea Law #2: Never let a plan ruin an unexplored path
😂 or never have a plan, more like it
Weave together some jellyfish tentacles perhaps.
Now you’re talking my language 😂 🪼
Every sail should have a Teacher on board/ she is one hell of a girl Iain. You got a good one. Not all girls could cope with this level of stress.
Absolutely. Think I’m going to put that on at-shirt
That's horrifying 😮
It really was!
"checking the steering cable" shouldn't you have been doing that before the cables broke, had to be rubbing or binding chaffing way before they broke....
Strangely we had checked everything over before setting off and we were able to see sections of it thru the boat but it is not really designed to be regularly checked on. We are lucky on Indioko that we can access large sections of it for inspection. On other boats it is literally under the boat and inaccessible while underway.
This is why newbies sail with a buddy boat. Next time on long sails take a buddy boat if you can. Better to sail in two or more.
Yeah, we’ve never really done the buddy boat thing. We know a bunch of boats ahead and behind us tho so it’s all good
Whew!
Well… we did warn you 😜
You did indeed! lol
You should have used the cables from your shrouds. They're overrated anyways and always in the way.
I think we are better off using those to keep the mast upright 😂
Back up plan is to use the lifelines if it comes to it tho.
My life is so boring and now I know why. Cause you two are steeling all the thunder from the rest of us! Don't' want this to turn into a lecture, just saying:-) Just teasing, wish you two safe-er-ish travels! I'll have to assume that by simply posting these you are moving forward (well, at least moving)!
🤣 🤣 perhaps it’s some consolation that you are on the adventure with us. You get to enjoy the highs and the lows while also knowing there is a comfortable bed and cold brew within reaching distance I suppose. Really enjoyed reading this post. Thanks for taking the time to watch and leave this post too
@@RedSeas Wait, what? There's also cold brew as well??? Oh SNAP! When you two are willing to take on additional kids, I mean crew, I want you to get back to me. I mean right back to me! :-) I have three kiddos (whom I absolutely love and support). As soon as I know that they are through college and on their own two feet, I'm really thinking I'd love to sail. Who knows where. But regardless, these videos sure hope inform me. Or well, at least give me some pretty fun nightmares!!! LOL!
Haha additional crew might be worth a thought given how this passage has been. We have been lucky enough to support a bunch of our patrons in setting out on their own adventure. It’s so cool to see them set up and set off. As my mum always says “what is for you won’t pass you by”
😲👍💪👊🙏❤
☝️ what he said
that sounds tough and all but at least you didn’t have to sit through child protection training today. Swings and roundabouts really.
Aw man, worst day of the year. I hope you’ve got enough chocolate to see you through!
It's quite clear who the captain is...
Absolutely…and who’s the admiral
Am from your school yo7r school name is mrs or ms cameron
Hi, thanks for watching! Hope you’re well 😊
That so called emergency steering is totally useless the handle should be the other way round. Being on the sugar scoop in that sort of weather is a disgrace. It is not long enough the wrong way round no mechanical advantage. Who ever came up with that design should have to steer the boat in 40 knots of wind. Wonder if it would change. This is the second time I have seen this, cannot mind the sailing channel. You need to be a strong man to use it a woman sorry before anyone says anything the truth, she fixed it say the other half cannot do that screwed. By the way you did really good hen. Sorry for the rant but steering is important. Life or death.
It’s these sorts of designs that remind us that Indioko was designed for week long vacation charters. That said, she is miles better than some of the newer charter boats out there. Wouldn’t want to have had this happen on any other boat. At least we knew exactly where to go to find the problem and had ideas of how to fix it. 😊
To have that much algae on your sugar scoops that you need a lawn mower to trim it really shows major neglect to your boat. To see that massive amount only tells me and your viewers that you do not maintain your boat properly, and this is why your stuff is breaking. Lack of attention and maintenance. Pure laziness. One day its going to be something you wont be able to recover from.
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I think you may have overlooked the fact that this episode takes place after those back steps have been submerged for a little over 2 weeks on a trans-pacific crossing. The amount of time we spent cleaning the wetted surfaces during the passage compared to at anchor and daily sails is dramatically different. Indeed, the last 3 years have seen us take Indioko from a shell of a boat (ex chartered and heavily damaged) to where she is today and we continue to repair, upgrade and renovate her. Perhaps take a moment to look thru some of our other episodes showing the extensive repairs we have done and consider the scenario we were in at the point our steering failed before making such sweeping statements. But equally, you are totally entitled to hold whatever opinion you like. Cheers.